Painful Truths
by Hopeful Writer
Summary: Hikari's father is beating her, so she runs away. When Takeru, Yamato, and Sora find her, she pours out her story to them. What will they do? Takari and Sorato.


HW: LiLVarajon and Sakka.

Sakka: About what?

HW: What do you do best, kid?

Sakka: Oh, sweet. Nice little romantic ending, beautiful graphics. I can take this one on.

HW: Where's that boyfriend of yours? And go easy on the graphics.

LiLVarajon: Present and ready to do a fic.

HW: Good. Sakka drop a disclaimer and shout outs. LiLVarajon, summary and introduction.

Sakka: HW doesn't own Digimon. She begs that the persistent emails for joint custody are stopped at once or she will sic her pack of kindergartners on the senders. Shout outs to Dreamer4, Dark Gamer, EeyoreP, Izzychick, and Fallen angel of Hope. Dedication to logan for inspiration.

LiLVarajon: This is about what would happen if Hikari was abused by her father. How will Takeru protect her? Will she ever have to go back? Read to find out. Takari and Sorato. Yes, Dreamer4, this is for you.

HW: Serves you right, girl. You really want one, so here it is. Now write one.

LiLVarajon: Here's Painful Truths by LiLVarajon and Sakka.

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Painful Truths

By: Hopeful Writer

Dictated by: LiLVarajon and Sakka

Hikari Kamiya cried out, more from fear than pain, but the latter did exist. With tear-filled eyes, she stared at the attacker. Then she ran from the room, out into the blinding cold of late December.

Hikari ran faster than she imagined possible for a fifteen-year-old with no athletic ability or endurance. Her lungs failed her, leaving her on the ground, coughing. Her pounding heart threatened to tear open her chest, but she fought to stand up and run more. A girl with more determination could never be found, but it did not help her when she finally tripped and sprawled out onto the cold, dew-covered grass. She choked out germ-filled air, clutching a stitch in her side. Her back hurt, among other places, and she felt dirty and used. "Someone help me," she mumbled into the ground. And someone did.

********

Takeru Takaishi would later look back on this and think, 'Things happen for strange reasons.' He was fuming mad at his older brother, so he decided to calm down by shooting some hoops at the park. It was late when he headed home, but Takeru's parents wouldn't care. They trusted their son and knew he'd call if he was going to be later than 9:00. He heard a low moan of someone in extreme pain and instinctively went to see about it. The sight shocked him.

Hikari looked like a homeless old woman, covered in muck and dirt. Takeru panicked. "Hikari, what happened?" he demanded, kneeling beside his best friend. The girl only moaned again in reply.

This infuriated the young blond. His anger was not directed at Hikari, but whoever had hurt her like this. Without the slightest hesitation, he lifted Hikari into his arms and carried her to his house, despite her mumbled protests.

Once safely inside, Takeru sat her on his bed. "What happened?" he repeated, this time with more force and less fear.

Suddenly, a sobbing Hikari began to speak. "My dad was really drunk and he, he, he," she swallowed hard, "beat me."

Takeru was shocked. "What?" he whispered, sitting down to cradle the tiny brunette.

Hikari didn't try to wipe her eyes. She continued, "He hit me a lot, Takeru. First with his hand, then the belt, then he tried to cut me with the butcher knife. He only nicked me before I ran. But I'm not very strong, so I couldn't get that far." She cuddled closer to him, which startled the boy for a moment.

He found the voice to speak. "Where did he hit you?"

Hikari hesitated. To be truthful she didn't exactly know where the bruises were. All she was sure of was the butcher knife, but she wasn't going to show it to Takeru.

"Hikari, you're bleeding," he pointed out, blushing as he glanced at the blood seeping through the chest of her shirt.

Hikari blushed too when she realized where he'd been looking. "That was where the butcher knife hit me," she admitted softly.

Takeru's eyes went wide. "Um, oh," he remarked, equally as quiet. "You know what? I think Sora's here," he suddenly realized. Yamato, his older brother, was spending the night, and his girlfriend, Sora Tachenouchi, was probably over. "I'll be right back. Don't move," he ordered, running from the room to find the couple.

********

Yamato Ishida stroked his girlfriend's hair lovingly and kissed her cheek. He heard a door slam, indicating the return of his little brother, but Yamato took no notice. Takeru was mad at him right now, and they probably wouldn't speak until tomorrow.

"Don't you want to at least say hi to him?" Sora asked him, cuddling closer to him.

"He's mad at me right now," Yamato explained, kissing her forehead.

Ten minutes later, though, Takeru burst through Yamato's bedroom door. He blushed when he saw the two cuddled in Yamato's bed, but he spoke directly to his older brother. "Yamato, Hikari's here. She's been abused and someone's going to have to take a look." He turned to the auburn-haired girl next to him. "I can't exactly, um, look at all the places that have cuts and bruises. Could you, Sora?"

She smiled kindly at him, her eyes glimmering with worry. "Sure," she answered, sliding out of bed. Takeru looked as though he half-expected her to be naked. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw her fully clothed.

`"We know you wanted to look," Yamato teased affectionately, following Sora's actions.

"Shut up," Takeru ordered, his face illuminated.

Sora followed Takeru to Hikari, who was cradling herself. "Oh, my God," she gasped, staring at the little girl's cuts and bruises. She turned to Takeru and Yamato, who both looked scared. "Beat it, you two. This is going to get kind of personal."

Yamato left immediately, but Takeru cast a last look at his best friend. "How personal?" he demanded.

"Takeru."

"Fine, fine," he grumbled, exiting.

Sora turned to Hikari, whose tears now mingled with blood from her cuts. "Take off your clothes," Sora ordered. "I need to see the wounds."

Under normal circumstances, Hikari would have made a joke about that, but this was not a normal circumstance. She merely stripped down to her underwear so Sora could see the marks. "Your father did all this to you?" she choked out.

"Yes," Hikari mumbled meekly. "And I don't ever want to see him again."

"We'll make sure you don't," Sora told her soothingly. She retrieved a washcloth and a pail of water from the bathroom and set to work cleaning Hikari's bruises.

At one point, Hikari let out such a yelp of pain that Takeru knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" he begged.

"Not yet, Takeru," Sora called back, handing the washcloth to Hikari to wash her own chest. The younger girl whimpered softly as she ran the wet towel over her deepest cut, the cut from the butcher knife.

Both girls heard Takeru grumble for a second before retreating. Hikari was physically clean now, but her soul was poisoned. "Sora, I didn't tell Takeru the whole truth about what my father did," she admitted. Sora looked at her with curiosity. "He also sexually abused me. He came very close to raping me. I managed to kick him right before he could do anything. That's when he got the knife."

Hikari was shaking with sobs again, so hard that her hair nearly whipped Sora in the face. The redhead cradled Hikari in her arms, unsure of what to do or say. Finally she asked, "Why didn't you tell Takeru?"

"Because he would panic and get very weird," Hikari explained.

"That's because he loves you, whether or not he's willing to admit it to himself. And you love him, even if you won't admit it. You can tell. He tried to protect you today by bringing you here. You tried to protect him by not telling him about that. But I think you should."

Hikari nodded and got dressed, wincing as the thin fabric touched her marks. "Takeru!" Sora called. "Yamato! Come on in."

Takeru barreled in first, followed instantly by his brother. The younger blond sat next to Hikari, while the older helped Sora to her feet. "I didn't tell you the whole truth before, Takeru," Hikari began shyly. Before he could respond, she continued with the same speech that she had given Sora. She finished to see Takeru's jaw agape. Even Yamato was staring at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he wondered quietly, his cyan eyes evincing his hurt.

"Because... because I love you and I didn't want to hurt you," she told him. Now Yamato's jaw dropped, and Sora smiled encouragingly.

Takeru was in a state of shock. He didn't feel the need to respond. Instead he lets his lips meet hers in a stunning display of fireworks. Once, when they were much younger, they had kissed, but that had been for an experiment, not because they were in love. This kiss was sparked from a feeling in their hearts, not their heads. Takeru figured he'd died and gone to heaven.

They broke apart, much to Takeru's dismay. "That was... amazing," he breathed, softly caressing her cheek.

Suddenly the two younger children remembered Yamato and Sora were in the room. Yamato was giving Takeru a rather stern look, but Sora had a hand on his arm and was smiling at the new couple.

"Hikari, we have to tell the police about what happened," Sora reminded gently.

Hikari stiffened in Takeru's arms. "I don't think I can," she mumbled, her hands covering her eyes.

Takeru pulled her closer, then slackened when Hikari gasped in pain. "Sorry. You can do it, Hika," he reassured her. "I'll be right there beside you."

Hikari looked up at him with a scared expression. "I don't know..."

"I won't leave you," he murmured, stroking her hair lovingly.

"Okay," she relented. "Let's go."

********

Hikari entered the police station nervously, with Takeru grasping her hand tightly. "Can I help you, young lady?" the officer asked kindly.

"I don't know," Hikari replied honestly. "My father hit me and tried to rape me. Can you help me?"

The officer didn't look as shocked as the four would have imagined. Instead she began to grill Hikari. "Where? With what?"

Hikari answered the questions as best she could. She was shaking again, but Takeru stayed by her side.

Finally the officer was through asking questions. "You will live with one of your friends until a relative can be located."

"Good luck," Hikari said dryly.

"Can she stay with me?" Takeru begged hopefully.

"No!" his brother answered promptly.

Both Takeru and Hikari groaned. Sora smiled. "You can stay with me, Hikari," she offered affectionately.

"Okay," she grumbled mockingly.

Takeru stole one quick kiss before following Yamato to his house. Sora and Hikari headed to Sora's house. Hikari's father had been jailed, much to Hikari's pleasure. She had called her older brother, Taichi, who was away at college. He, too, was thrilled, for both had suffered beatings, though Hikari's was by far the worst. Taichi would stay with Sora, too, when he came home to visit.

Hikari floated to her new home. She thanked Sora profusely, who blushed and waved it off every time. Before Hikari went to sleep, she said a prayer. "Dear God," she whispered, uncertain of how to begin something like this. "Thank you for saving me. And thank you for protecting me until this day. Could you, um, tell my mom I miss her and I love her? She was my protector. Thanks." Hikari smirked at how childish that sounded, but she was actually relieved she'd done it. Her mom had been the only one who could protect Hikari and Taichi from their father's beatings. When she had died last year, the beatings had begun, worse than either child could imagine. Now it was all over, at least for now.

She rolled over to sleep. Her last thoughts were, 'I miss you, Mom.'

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HW: Very nice. You guys did a great job.

Sakka: You know you hired the right people.

LiLVarajon: Only doing our job, boss.

HW: You want to close it up?

Sakka: Hey, please review this. We tried really hard.

LiLVarajon: Flames accepted, criticism appreciated, and compliments worshipped. We like to know what you think.

Sakka: Or, drop us a line at GillyB87@aol.com. Thanks!

HW: That's all folks. Bye.


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